The Official Country Music Thread Genre • Page 67

This Erin Rae album has become one of my favorites this year.

 

Hey Country thread regulars, I haven’t really been paying too much attention to Country albums this year outside of Kacey.

It’d be great if anybody can give me any recs for stuff to check out?

Lori McKenna is already on my list after reading Craig’s review the other day (this is what reminded me I’ve not been paying attention).

 

I like the Scotty McCreery album and the Brothers Osborne album

 

Stuff I've been loving:

American Aquarium
Anderson East
Ashley McBryde
Ashley Monroe
Brandi Carlile
Brent Cobb
Brothers Osborne
Caitlyn Smith
The Church Sisters
Courtney Marie Andrews
Dierks Bentley
Donovan Woods
Kacey
Kyle Daniel
Lainey Wilson
Lanco
Lori
Steve Moakler
Tenille Townes
Wade Bowen
The Wild Feathers

A few of those are EPs. Mostly full-lengths though.

 

My favorites so far that weren’t included in Craig’s list are John Prine, Joshua Hedley, HC McEntire, and Erin Rae. I’m also excited for the New Cody Jinks that comes out this week.

 

I agree w/ all the above. The Carolina Story album that recently dropped is also real good, and I'm looking forward to Amanda Shires' album on Aug. 3.

 

Thanks for the recs everyone, that’s awesome of you all. There’s loads there to keep me going for a while.

I think I’ll start with Caitlin Smith as I heard good things about that at the beginning of the year but never got round to giving it a listen. After that I’ll prob give Brothers Osborne a go as 2 of you rec’d it

 

I’ll have to keep an eye out for that Amanda Shires one, I loved Carrying Lightning by her.

 

The Amanda Shires record is pretty wild. Definitely a pretty sizable evolution for her. Not a lot of country/Americana on that album.

 

Yeah good list here. No love for Moakler?

 

Oops, knew I was forgetting something. Yes, he's in my top 10!

 

I've tried real hard to like it but Golden Hour still bores the shit out of me. And I'm pretty sure the lyrics to "High Horse" get dumber every time I listen to it. O well. "Slow Burn" and "Space Cowboy" are still good tho.

 

Same. I’m sad about it, Pageant Material is a personal favorite of mine.

 

Completely agree, Pageant Material is one of my favorite albums of the last few years, and Golden Hour has some amazing moments on it, but as a whole I just can't get into it as much as I wish I could. I keep feeling like I must be missing something though considering the universal praise, idk.

 

I don’t really care about universal praise or negativity anyway. Personally I think it’s well made, even “very good”, it’s just mostly not something I’m into or want from her. That’s not het problem though.

 

I will not stand for this Kacey slander!

(Though, I will say that I think "High Horse" is one of the bottom 2 or 3 songs on the album, and generally think it's been overrated a bit.)

 

New Molly Burch album “First Flower” October 5.

 

New Colter Wall On October 12.

 

2 new Colter songs on streaming services. Or at least Apple Music and Spotify.

Songs Of The Plains

 

Colter Wall being 23 and having that voice is one of the most fascinating things I've ever heard in music lol

 

After being completely blindsided by the gateway drug that is 'Golden Hour' - I've been very much enjoying some country music recently, particularly

Lori McKenna - The Tree
Maren Morris - Hero
Caitlin Smith - Starfire
Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You

Could anybody please recommend some similar artists for me to get my teeth into? I know that Maren Morris is a bit of an outlier from the list, but I find that album particularly listenable even though I generally prefer the brokenhearted style more

 

Great records! Here are five to try. Guessing you're looking for female artists, based on the list.

Natalie Hemby - Puxico
Logan Brill - Shuteye
Tenille Townes - The Living Room Worktapes
Carly Pearce - Every Little Thing
Ashley Monroe - The Blade

 

Cheers Craig - very much appreciated. I have listened to The Blade and Sparrow but not too much, I'll give them another try

Yep, not sure why I gravitate towards female country - I think I'm still mentally scarred by the image of Garth Brooks on wires with a massive stetson on!

 

The first time I listened to Tenille Townes’ song “Somebody's Daughter” I was blown away the same way I was the first time I heard “Elephant” by Jason Isbell. The level of talent and craftsmanship that goes into making a spare, restrained song like this that tackles such heavy subject matter and making it a great and highly enjoyable song astounds me. Not that writing any good music is ever easy to do well, but these are songs where you’re simply bowled over by the writing and the melodies, and to then throw in the wrinkle that you're gonna write about cancer or the complexities surrounding homelessness. As someone who doesn't write music the thought of trying to write an upbeat energetic song about something fun seems much less daunting than setting out to write a slow, powerful song about your friend who died of cancer or the homeless person you pass on the street in your car .

 

Those are great female artists that absolutely deserve to be listened to but you'd also be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't check out Jason Isbell, John Moreland, David Ramirez, and a host of other male artists as well.